CERN Courier – July-August 2019

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CERN COURIER JULY/AUGUST 2019

OPINION

VIEWPOINT

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37

Nearly 70 years ago, before CERN was

established, two models for European

collaboration in fundamental physics

were on the table: one envisaged open-

ing up national facilities to researchers

from across the continent, the other the

creation of a new, international research

centre with world-leading facilities. Dis-

cussions were lively, until one delegate

pointed out that researchers would go to

wherever the best facilities were.

From that moment on, CERN became

an accelerator laboratory aspiring to be

at the forefront of technology to ena-

ble the best science. It was a wise deci-

sion, and one that I was reminded of

while listening to the presentations at

the open symposium of the European

Strategy for Particle Physics in Gra-

nada, Spain, in May. Because among the

conclusions of this very lively meeting

was the view that providing world-

leading accelerator and experimental

facilities is precisely the role the com-

munity needs CERN to play today.

There was huge interest in the sym-

posium, as witnessed by the 600-plus

participants, including many from the

nuclear and astroparticle physics com-

munities. The vibrancy of the field was

fully on display, with future hadron col-

liders offering the biggest leap in energ y

reach for direct searches for new physics.

Precision electroweak studies at the few

per cent level, particularly for the Higgs

particle, will obtain sensitivities for sim-

ilar mass scales. The LHC, and soon the

High-Luminosity LHC, will go a long way

towards achieving that goal of precision.

Indeed, it’s remarkable how far the LHC

experiments have come in overturning

the old adage that hadrons are for discov-

ery and leptons for precision – the LHC

has established itself as a precision tool,

and this is shaping the debate as to what

kind of future we can expect.

Multifaceted The European Strategy Group faces a monumental challenge in plotting

a course for the future of high-energy physics.

Reflections on Granada

strategy for European particle physics.

With all the available technology options

and open questions in physics, there’s no

doubt that the future should be bright. The

European Strategy Group, however, has

a monumental challenge in plotting an

affordable course to propose to the CERN

Council in March next year.

There were calls for CERN to diversify

and lend its expertise to other areas of

research, such as gravitational waves:

one speaker even likened interferom-

eters to accelerators without beams. In

terms of the technologies involved, that

statement stands up well to scrutiny,

and it is true that technology devel-

oped for particle physics at CERN can

help the advancement of other fields.

CERN already formally collaborates

with organisations like ITER and the ESS,

sharing our innovation and expertise.

However, for me, the strongest message

from Granada is that it is CERN’s focus

on remaining at the forefront of particle

physics that has enabled the Organization

to contribute to a diverse range of fields.

CERN needs to remain true to that found-

ing vision of being a world-leading centre

for accelerator technology. That is the

starting point. From it, all else follows.

 This article was originally published

in the CERN Bulletin.

CERN needs to

remain true to

its founding

vision of

being a world-

leading centre

for accelerator

technology

The open symposium of the European

Strategy for Particle Physics stimulated

much lively discussion about the future

of particle physics and the central role of

CERN, writes Eckhard Elsen.

Eckhard Elsen

is CERN director for

research and

computing.

CERN

Sandbox Studio, Chicago, courtesy of

Symmetry

magazine

Nevertheless, however precise proton-

proton physics becomes, it will still fall

short in some areas. To fully understand

the absolute width of the Higgs, for exam-

ple, a lepton machine will be needed, and

no fewer than four implementations were

discussed. So, one key conclusion is that if

we are to cover all bases, no single facility

will suffice. One way forward was pre-

sented by the chair of the Asian Committee

for Future Accelerators Geoff Taylor, who

advocated a lepton machine for Asia while

Europe would focus on advancing the

hadron frontier.

Interest in muon colliders was rekin-

dled, not least because of some recent

reconsiderations in muon cooling (CERN

Courier July/August 2018 p19). The great

and recent progress of plasma-wakefield

accelerators, including AWAKE at CERN,

calls for further research in this field so

as to render the technology usable for

particle physics. Methods of dark-matter

searches abound and are an important

element of the discussion on physics

beyond colliders, using single beams

at CERN.

The Granada meeting was a town meet-

ing on physics. Yet, it is clear to all that we

can’t make plans solely on the basis of the

available technology and a strong physics

case, but must also consider factors such

as cost and societal impact in any future

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